by Bob Flaws

Honora and I came back several days ago (just before the Pacific Symposium) from a 10-day walking tour of Bhutan. Bhutan is located north of Bengal and Assam, east of Darjeeling, west of Arunachal Pradesh, all parts of India, and south of Tibet. It is the last independent Tibetan Buddhist kingdom in the world – a real Shangrila. For me this trip was a 40-year-old dream come true.

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Back in 1970 or 71, I saw a picture of Paro Tak-tsang, a mountain hermitage perched on the side of a cliff where Guru Padmasambhava is believed to have manifested as Dorje Drollo and where Milarepa and Ma-chik Lap-dron meditated. I’ve wanted to go there ever since but never had the chance till now. We climbed this mountain on our third day in Bhutan and it was all I had hoped it would be. We also visited many other temples and monasteries, and I even got to see the new (fifth) king close-up and personal. Honora was entranced by the scenery and spent most of her free time sketching and water-coloring. In Thimphu, the capital, we visited the national center for traditional (Tibetan ) medicine which is called so-rig. While there, we had the chance to meet the staff acupuncturist who showed us his golden needles and discussed the differences between Chinese and Bhutanese-Tibetan acupuncture. We also visited the medical museum where they had many specimens of herbal medicinals. Honora and I were able to identify many of these that are also used in Chinese medicine. Bhutan is a little-known source for Dong Chong Xia Cao or Cordyceps. Our guide also told us how matsutake mushrooms are becoming an important new cash crop.